Chapter 129: Besides enduring it, what else can I do?

Time soon reached this day in November, the same old routine of three points and one line.

Xie Qin had gone to answer a call in the library, and Shen Li was still drilling past papers for the English Level 4 exam. Not long after, her phone received a reminder message from Yang Zhou, telling her the exam location.

It was at the West Lake Old Campus of Wuchuan University of Finance and Economics. Not many people from Chengde University had signed up, so most exam rooms were randomly assigned.

The exam date was November 8th. Shen Li checked that day; it happened to be a Saturday.

Xie Qin hung up and returned. Shen Li looked at the person walking over and sat down before him, hesitating over whether to tell him about her participating in the Mathematics Competition.

Xie Qin sat beside her, propping his head up to watch her, and tapped the table lightly. "What are you thinking about? There's still one question left to write," he said, lifting his chin.

"Finish writing it, and you can look at me however you want."

Still...

Forget it.

Shen Li withdrew her gaze indifferently and didn't look at him again.

If he found out, he would just help her squeeze out even more time for studying.

Actually... Shen Li didn't love studying that much.

The questions she knew how to do were only done to make him happy. She had told him last time that she knew them all, but he hadn't believed her.

She just treated it as humoring him.

Leaving the library, Xie Qin walked her back to the dormitory to rest. He looked down at his phone, as if replying to messages. Shen Li walked beside him without speaking. When they reached the entrance, he glanced at Shen Li before speaking, "What do you want to eat before class later?"

Shen Li shook her head: "No need."

"Alright then, get some good rest. I'll come find you when it's time."

"Mm."

Shen Li stood downstairs at the dormitory, watching his back as he left. She lowered her eyes, her calm face devoid of much emotion. She didn't go back to the dormitory to rest; instead, she walked in the opposite direction and took a taxi to the hospital.

People's Hospital.

Shen Li would come to see her from time to time, though Xie Qin didn't know. She looked a bit better than last time.

Chen Meihong: "Old Yang told me about your situation. You were the only one who got all the test questions right last time. It's thanks to you that he was able to go back."

Shen Li clumsily peeled an apple. After finishing, she said, "Here."

Chen Meihong froze for a moment, then smiled and took it, "Thank you."

"... Why are you here again?" Outside the ward door, a displeased voice rang out. It was a petite girl who held a hostile posture toward Shen Li inside the ward. She walked in carrying a thermos, "Get out quickly, I don't want to see you."

Chen Meihong scolded her: "Tingting, she is your father's student, you are not allowed to be so impolite."

Yang Ting looked at Shen Li with disgust: "Mom, you have no idea how bad she is."

"She stole Sister Wei's boyfriend."

"How could my dad have a student like her?"

Chen Meihong looked at Shen Li anxiously, her emotions agitated, causing her to cough a few times. Yang Ting hurriedly stepped forward, put down the thermos, and went over to help her catch her breath.

Shen Li frowned slightly, her eyes showing a hint of concern. She wanted to say something, but stopped herself. She looked at the other girl and explained, "I didn't steal her boyfriend."

"Heh, who doesn't know that Xie Qin broke up with Sister Wei because of you."

"Get out now, I don't want to see you, and I don't need your hypocrisy."

"Next time... don't let me see you again." After saying this angrily to Shen Li, seeing her mother still hadn't recovered, she became anxious, "Mom, I'll call the nurse for you."

When the nurse arrived.

Yang Ting saw that Shen Li was still there.

She said impatiently, "Why are you still standing there? Get out!"

Shen Li pressed her thin lips together, offered no further explanation, and left without looking back.

Chen Meihong lay on the hospital bed, watching Shen Li leave. She raised her hand as if to keep her, her expression pained, but she couldn't say a word.

There are always such big coincidences in this world.

On the day school started, among those who sat with Song Yuewei and had conflicts with Shen Li, there was also Teacher Yang's daughter.

"If you want something, please go get it yourself. We aren't close."

At that time, Yang Ting had slammed the table and stood up, "Don't be ungrateful, who are you putting on an act for?"

Bu Da Yang Xiao Jiu Guan.

The others had arrived long ago. Xie Qin came last. As soon as he sat down, he collapsed onto the sofa in exhaustion, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Zhang Zixin saw him like this, smiled, and said, "Weren't you accompanying Shen Li to the library? How come you're in this state as soon as you arrive?"

Xie Qin: "Headache."

The headache wasn't from accompanying Shen Li to the library; the headache was the exhaustion of having knowledge forcibly stuffed into his brain.

As the man who understood Xie Qin best, Xu Zhouyuan laughed: "Wife, you don't understand. This exam is truly bitter for our Brother Qin. For those of us who don't like to study, going to the library for a day or two is fine."

"But once time drags on, any human would be unable to stand it."

"You say he's someone who doesn't like to study, whose total high school scores never topped three hundred, yet he spends every day accompanying his partner to the library to drill questions."

"I don't even know how he survived it."

Xie Qin eased up for a while before sitting up straight. He picked up the drink in front of him and downed it in one gulp. The drink had ice cubes in it, and he felt much more sober.

Zhou Mingyu took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it over, "Have one to relax. If it's really too much, don't force it, why make things hard for yourself."

"Exactly." Xu Zhouyuan opened the pack and pulled one out for him: "Here."

Xie Qin looked down at the cigarette offered, took it, and bit it between his lips. Xu Zhouyuan lit it for him with a lighter.

Zhang Zixin bit her straw, drinking her beverage, shaking her leg to the rhythm of the music in the tavern, and looked at Xie Qin: "Still smoking? Be careful, or I'll tell on you to Shen Li."

He bit the cigarette, took his wallet from his pocket, tossed a shopping card onto the table, then closed his wallet and put it back. He held the cigarette between his fingertips again and exhaled a puff of white mist.

Zhang Zixin: "Bribing me?"

Xie Qin leaned over and tapped the ash into the ashtray: "Just one."

After falling in love, he really had stopped smoking. It wasn't that he couldn't handle it; he truly didn't touch cigarettes. This time, he was really at his limit; his head hurt like crazy.

He was simply not cut out for studying.

"Fine, just this once."

Zhang Zixin took it generously.

Xu Zhouyuan laughed and patted Xie Qin's shoulder: "With you like this, you still want to accompany Shen Li to repeat a year? If you stay at school for a few days, you'll explode."

Xie Qin curled his alluring lips, "Besides enduring it, what else can I do?"

"Going to the restroom." He put down his long legs, pressed the half-smoked cigarette out in the ashtray, and stood up to leave the sofa.

Xie Qin held his phone, looking down as he searched for information on repeating a year. He walked to a dimly lit corner of the hallway; the restroom was just around the corner.

At this moment, Song Yuewei had also finished washing her hands at the sink. As she turned to leave, seeing that familiar figure walking over, intense emotions surged in her heart, causing her to stop in her tracks.

Xie Qin caught a figure in his peripheral vision, lifted his eyes, and the two met each other's gaze.

After so long, she had finally managed to walk out of the shadow of the breakup. During that time, she had almost given up on herself, neglected her studies, and was nearly expelled from school. Having fallen for someone so dazzling, how could she easily shake off this relationship?

Especially after knowing that he ended up with Shen Li, she had still cried her heart out.

Song Yuewei: "Xie Qin... long time no see." ===== CHAPTER 130 =====